Simon Murray

Biography

Simon joined Theatre Studies at the University of Glasgow in September 2008 having moved from Dartington College of Arts in Devon where he was Director of Theatre. He originally graduated from Newcastle Polytechnic with a (London University) Honours degree in Sociology (1971) and spent 15 years working in further, higher, adult and trade union education in the north east of England, the west of Scotland and in Seychelles. In his late thirties he spent a year in Paris training in movement, acting and theatre-making with Philippe Gaulier and Monika Pagneux. After 10 years as a professional theatre maker and performer he returned to higher education to teach theatre and performance. In 2008 he co- founded the Routledge journal, Theatre, Dance and Performance Training with Professor Jonathan Pitches (University of Leeds). He was co-editor of this journal until the autumn of 2016, but remains a consultant editor.

Research Interest

Simon’s research interests are interdisciplinary and constantly engage with a sociological and cultural studies past and a theatre/performance practices present. A preoccupation with political and social contexts frames and drives all his interests, regardless of the particular nature of the project in question. His research and writing have attempted to combine close readings of theatre forms – particularly physical and movement theatres - historiography and locating these practices as cultural production. Today, Simon’s research preoccupations coalesce around two inter-related and overlapping pathways of thought and interest. One of these continues to include the politics and regimes of actor and performer training, the pedagogies of Jacques Lecoq and Philippe Gaulier and contemporary performance practices and dramaturgies. The other embraces a wider cultural sweep and finds focus on WG (Max) Sebald, John Berger, Raymond Williams, the quality of lightness in performance, the politics of collaboration, and the relationship between ruins/ruination and theatre. In relation to the latter I am currently researching and writing a monograph, provisionally entitled ‘Performing Ruins’ which will be published by Palgrave in 2018/19 as part of the Performing Landscapes series edited by Prof Dee Heddon (Glasgow) and Prof Sally Mackay (Royal Central School of Speech and Drama). I am also a member of the Ecology and Environment research cluster within Theatre Studies at the University of Glasgow.